Family Friendly Countries.

Discussion in 'Miscellaneous' started by MacLeod, Jun 26, 2013.

  1. MacLeod

    MacLeod Admiral Admiral

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    Somewhat interesting article on the BBC website esp. to those who have children. How does your country compare to others around the world when it comes to eduction, paternal leave etc...

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-22688596
     
  2. RoJoHen

    RoJoHen Awesome Admiral

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    As an American, I think nothing of the legal drinking age being 21...until I see a map and realize that pretty much the rest of the world has it set at 18.

    Another thing that was interesting to me:

    To be a primary school teacher in the United States, you must have a bachelors degree.
    To be a primary school teacher in a lot of other countries, you must have a bachelors degree PLUS specialized teacher training.

    What does "specialized teacher training" mean, exactly? US teachers have to have bachelors degrees in Education. The whole point of their bachelors degree is to learn how to be teachers; what other kind of specialized training is required?
     
  3. Avon

    Avon Commodore Commodore

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    everyone found it hilarious at university when the american student guys were shocked they could buy alcohol.

    the UK does pretty well on those maps :P
     
  4. Retu

    Retu Commander Red Shirt

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    One flaw I found on those maps is, that they give way too much weight on a law being in constitution. For example in Finland, issues regarding the right of education for disabled children and discrimination in work are handled by basic education act and non-discrimination act, respectively. Constitution isn't that specific. It just says that everyone is equal and everyone is entitled for free basic education.
     
  5. Starkers

    Starkers Admiral Admiral

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    Well in the UK you can just do a BA in Education, but it takes 4 years. Alternatively you can take a degree in any subject for three years then do a further teacher training qualification. I don’t think it’s the case as much now but it used to be that some students would graduate, fail to get a job/be undecided and basically do the teacher training qualification for a year, in part because you used to get a grant for it.
     
  6. MacLeod

    MacLeod Admiral Admiral

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    Perhaps, but not every country has a written constitution. i.e. the UK.
     
  7. Owain Taggart

    Owain Taggart Vice Admiral Admiral

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    This is interesting. In regards to alcohol purchase age, it of course varies greatly depending on which states you travel to. For example, whenever I'm in the US I always feel somewhat odd when buying alcohol as they seem to scrutinize you more than they do here even though I'm way above the age. And then certain states, like Vermont for example, have some weird laws to go with that.

    For example, I go camping in Vermont every year, and until last year my Dad and I never had any problems buying beer. But last year we encountered something new. We went to the cash to pay for it, they wanted to see both our IDs. Fair enough. They just want to make sure, but we laughed a little that they wanted to check my Dad as he's in his 70's. Then they checked mine. Computer had problems with it. Then they had to call in the manager, which to my consternation made more noise about it than I'd have wanted, and they were flipping through a book of IDs and because mine didn't exactly match the picture in the book (the colour of the logo in the ID is different depending on the year of issue), they refused us the purchase. Even if I was 30+, they couldn't prove it and refused to accept what I did have. We were both upset about this and the line of people at the cash all saw it unfold, and the woman behind us as we left had told us she was feeling sorry for us.

    And in regards to dentistry, at least in my region, we appear to have more dentists than family doctors. It's easy enough to get a family dentist, but incredibly hard to find a family doctor as we have shortages of them here.
     
  8. RoJoHen

    RoJoHen Awesome Admiral

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    Unfortunately in the US, liquor laws are usually up to local ordinance. So what works in one state won't work in another state. Hell, what works in one town won't necessarily work in the adjacent town.

    I check IDs pretty much for a living, and sometimes people get really offended. What they have to understand is that I'm not doing it to prevent them from buying alcohol; I'm doing it to prevent myself from getting fined or losing my job.

    My favorite is when 22-year olds get upset when I ask for their IDs, as if they've been of legal age for such a long time, and they can't believe they're still getting carded. I have to assure them that they're probably going to get carded for many years to come, and they just need to get used to it.
     
  9. MacLeod

    MacLeod Admiral Admiral

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    Penalties for selling age restricted products to those under the age can be quite serve so these days comapanies err on the side of caution. In the UK most places operate a challange 25 policy. So that if you appear to be under 25 and can't provide valid ID the sale will be refused doesn't matter if it 18 for Alcohol, Cigs and Fireworks, 16 for Lotto. Also Knvives, Party Poppers, Analgesics.
     
  10. RoJoHen

    RoJoHen Awesome Admiral

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    In the US, we are supposed to card if you look under 40.
     
  11. MacLeod

    MacLeod Admiral Admiral

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    I know exactly what you mean, besides take it is a compliment. I would love to be ID'd, but now that I'm into my thirties it doesn't happen and most people are 2-3 years off when they guess my age. 2-3 years younger than I am actually. :D
     
    Last edited: Jun 27, 2013
  12. iguana_tonante

    iguana_tonante Admiral Admiral

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    Italy, EU
    "What is the minimum age for purchasing alchol legally?"
    "Italy - no minimum age."

    I think we win the thread. :D

    (Now, that's not completely true: there are city ordinances in many places that restrict purchasing alcohol to 16 years old. There is no age limit for drinking it, tho.)
     
  13. marksound

    marksound Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    I would regularly get carded until I hit 40, and still sometimes after that. At 50 everything changed. Everything.

    Now I get carded when I ask for the senior discount. :lol:
     
  14. Spot's Meow

    Spot's Meow Vice Admiral Admiral

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    I suppose it might differ by state, but at least in California teachers can have a Bachelor's degree in any subject they want (not necessarily education), but they have to complete an additional year and half to two year credential program. Without a credential you can only be a substitute teacher. So I would say this counts as the specialized training. It mostly involves choosing a specialization and doing many hours of student teaching.
     
  15. Owain Taggart

    Owain Taggart Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Yeah, no doubt, and I definitely understand why it's done and that's pretty much what they had told us. However in my case, even the clerk and manager were feeling rather uncomfortable during the whole ordeal. They were following rules, but rules that in this instance were rather silly, given that I did have proof, but proof that they couldn't accept because it wasn't 100% from what they saw in the book. And at the end of the day they couldn't sell it to us. They would only sell to my Dad if I wasn't there with him. It was an example of getting caught in the bureaucratic red tape. It was the situation that it created that I was upset about, and not so much the fact that I did get carded.
     
  16. IndyJones

    IndyJones Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Chicago
    I'm curious about the charting on "Is smoking banned in schools?" For America it says no law, but that's obviously not true. I mean, most places you can't even smoke in bars, and you certainly can't in schools.
     
  17. MacLeod

    MacLeod Admiral Admiral

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    Question them is that because there is a State or Federal law banning smoking, or because the school/college/university/bar etc... have implemented their own ban?
     
  18. Third Nacelle

    Third Nacelle Captain Captain

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    It varies from state to state, and within states it varies from city to city. Here in Virginia restaurants and bars can technically still allow smoking, but the law says there has to be a non smoking section completely separated from the smoking section and with a separate ventilation system. Very few places meet that requirement.

    I remember up until I was in third grade, teachers could smoke in the corridors. Then the local law changed and they could only smoke in the teacher's lounge. Years later in high school, they were banished to the parking lot. Now, as I understand it, they have to leave school grounds altogether to smoke. These were all city ordinances that came a year or two before similar state laws.
     
  19. RoJoHen

    RoJoHen Awesome Admiral

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    I figured it meant "on school grounds."
     
  20. MacLeod

    MacLeod Admiral Admiral

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    So it's not like in the UK where smoking is banned in all enclosed public spaces.